Youth mental health plan

The Green Party will help equip people with the skills and resources they need to make it through the tough times, as well as support the mental health system for when people need more acute intervention.

New Zealand has some of the worst rates of youth suicide in the world, with serious impacts on people, families, schools, and communities. There is an urgent need to address the despairs and hopes within young people, and save lives.

The Green Party will:

Introduce free counselling for under 25s, and work towards extending this to all adults.

The Green Party will increase funding to youth mental health services by $263 million a year.

Every suicide is a tragedy. The Green Party believes that suicide is preventable and we want to work towards zero suicide within our health care system. Integrating a zero suicide philosophy is a bold goal, and an aspirational challenge. It is time to take practical steps towards reducing New Zealand’s suicide rate by properly funding our mental health system, implementing effective policies to help, and destigmatising and normalising talking about mental health. With a well-funded and better-coordinated strategy, we can do this.